Are Juventus trying to be funny?

So the main news coming out of Italy is not the reaction to their Euro 2012 final defeat but rather that Juventus have had a bid for Arsenal captain Robin Van Persie rejected.

The Serie A champions are known to be admirers of last season’s Premier League top scorer, and are looking for a marquee signing to mark their statement of intent as they continue their regeneration towards becoming one of Europe’s elite clubs.

The Old Lady of Italian football have become the first club to publicly make an offer to the Gunners for their star striker but were unsuccessful.

So what was the offer?

£15m? £20m? £30m?

Well it was in fact a rather embarrassing £8m.

Are they having a laugh?

Yes the Dutchman is in the final year of his contract and yes the Italian clubs don’t exactly spend huge sums of money nowadays but come on, £8m?

Arsene Wenger would probably be disappointed to receive an offer like that for someone like Marouane Chamakh, never mind his team’s best player.

With a poor offer like that from Juve, it looks likely that Manchester City and Paris Saint-Germain will be the only real contenders for Van Persie’s signature.

Yet with Roberto Mancini refusing to talk about the striker, and PSG completing the signing of Ezequiel Lavezzi, could Van Persie be set to stay at Arsenal? Wenger seems certain that his main man won’t be moving to Italy after his comments from last week.